And The World Stops Turning
by Quantum27
Summary: Reverse Au One Shots. Once upon a time, there was a different story. Not too different, but enough to shake your perception of the story. In which the world involves a lieutenant with a coin, an android with a little boy in his head, the revolutionary leader adopts everyone, a mother and her son on the run, a family of three humans who hide androids. And also. Sumo. HIATUS
1. Connor Anderson Introspective

Connor wasn't exactly the most straight to the book cop. And that was something odd. On the surface, Connor was a very smartly dressed one, the youngest lieutenant on the force and solved more cases than the norm. Usually, around the station, he was seen with a coin in one hand and a cigarette in the other. That is to say a Tobacco one. On the weekends he tended to get more...colorful. Technically weed was legal. Just… frowned upon.

So he didn't really tend to mention it, but on rough cases, you were sure to catch the smell of it on him. Connor had lost a lot in the last couple of years. There was always a cloud that seemed to hang over him. Though at least Captain Reed let him off the hook most days. Though he had gotten a few good yellings about his... _habits_ before.

When Connor was sent an android partner he had to stifle a laugh. Would Cyberlife have sent it if they knew his handler would be a druggie?

No. Probably not. He felt that Gavin had suggested him just to spite him. After all, he knew how Connor avoided androids like the plague. Perhaps he had been mistaken when he'd thought that Gavin had been his friend. Though… it might be hard to be friends with your ex-fiance's brother.

He could still picture Gavin's face. That was the cause of the little to no communication between him and Conan.

Connor had three younger siblings. Conan, only a year and a half younger than him. And the twins Collin and Caleb, eight years younger than him.

As for the hard times Connor had faced. His father...he still felt responsible. He had just finished chemo...they had even talked about going to Disney World. Then the car had skidded on the ice. It was so hard on the eldest boys because they could still remember their birth parents from memories just pictures. That had also been a cause of their little family. This man who had taken them in after their parents passed… gone.

Things never got easier for anyone in the Anderson family.

Connor tried not to like Hank, he really did. It didn't help that he was just so oddly likable. He had the appearance of an older man long hair tied behind his head in a ponytail. He wore no tie, but he did have a pocket square in his right pocket. His jacket was a suit jacket that seemed half a size too big. His eyes were a blue that reminded him remarkably of Conan's.

Best of all the droid was sarcastic. He easily rammed his way through Connor's nonchalant facade. Connor at first wondered if he had been sent the wrong android. Though that had to be impossible. Right?

He purposely got on his nerves. Hell, he even broke Connor's window after he'd passed out due to smoking. Then he'd taken him to get a cold shower…(well, after Hank got Sumo out of the tub.(Aka Sumo's favorite place to sleep when Connor got high. His second favorite spot was Connor's bed))

He'd been surprised that the first thing Hank had criticized him was getting high when the dog was in the house. Though the android had no idea that Connor had a system with the dog, that involved him closing the door to a room so that Sumo wouldn't get affected. (The closest encounter Connor had ever seen with Sumo was when he'd eaten an _entire_ package of brownies...but that's another story.)

It was when he saw Hank back down on the Tracis that Connor started to understand. Hank may have had a pre-programmed sarcastic snark...but there was so much more to him. And Connor saw it all when he'd relented and let the girls run. He'd anxiously pulled out his coin in the car, letting it go into self-driving mode. He couldn't help but stare at Hank. Hank did something similar with his knuckles meticulously popping them over and over. Connor hadn't even known that androids _could_ do that. Though apparently, the popping was to loosen up his artificial muscles or something.

Then there'd been Kamski. He'd forgotten exactly how Chloe could get that...odd plotting look in her eye. He paused at the door while Hank had gone into the room, the androids all looking the same. ( _Elijah_.) And their eyes had met. They didn't talk about them that day. But she had that plotting look in her eye. Connor had seen when she'd asked Hank to shoot Elijah the way her shoulders tensed. ( _She loved Elijah now.)_

He liked her new haircut...the shortness was nice. Maybe they could be friends again, one day. ( _Though they'd never get close like that again.)_

Then there had been Cyberlife tower. The Fake Hank had led him there, and the gun in his shoulder-holster seemed a lot more heavy.

Then he'd stood their The Fake Hank's gun in his left hand, his own in his right. Never had he felt gladder to be ambidextrous. And oh, Connor hears Hank answer his questions correctly, and he shoots the right Android.

He starts crying silent tears of joy as he walks with Hank with all the freed androids. No one will know that he's a human probably. But he doesn't care.

Connor wasn't exactly the most emotional person on the planet. But he was full of emotions that night. He thinks that his father would be proud of him. All three of them. His birth, his adopted, and his android one too.

He doesn't walk the whole way there, instead with a barely audible 'Meet me at Chicken Feed.' He waits there till the afternoon of the next day. He walks slowly to Hank even though he wants to sprint. That hug feels so good.


	2. Carl RK200 Manfred Introspective

RK200. That was not how Markus thought of him. To him, he was just...Carl. Carl was not a standard android, to begin with. He was a Specialty one, gifted specifically from one certain Chloe Kamski to one Markus Manfred. Markus had suffered an intense injury, paralyzed from the waist down. He had no one to help him get through that. His brother Leo on another red ice spree. No parents. No one. No one but Carl.

He still remembers when his name was registered. Chloe had scoffed at the choice but Markus had just smiled and shrugged. Carl.

He isn't sure when deviancy begins to slip into his programming. Was it the first time Markus had stumbled over the word 'dad' instead of his name? Or perhaps a particular painting of Markus' had sparked an emotion inside his thirium pump? Whatever it was it grew and sparked and laid dormant underneath his skin until the perfect opportunity to take hold.

It was the day Markus let him paint. He wouldn't realize until later but that was when the itch to break free pounded in his chest. Unfortunately… he was interrupted by Leo, he probably had just come off of a high, and realized it was time to mooch some more money from his brother.

Carl didn't like the hurt in Markus' eyes. He _still_ so deeply loved his brother. So much so that Leo couldn't possibly know the deep hurt he was casting upon his brother.

The scrapyard... _**graveyard**_ was awful. Bodies laid across the ground, limbs strewn everywhere. It was then that Carl knew what he had to do... Even if he didn't realize it himself yet, it was burning inside his soul.

He replaced his eye (a dark brown contrasting with the light blue) and his leg. All the while thinking of Markus. How he had pushed his master's brother to the ground, how Markus had screamed at him to run. How he had called him dad.

Arriving in Jericho, he found himself perturbed by the state of the pace. It was barely a safe haven. It might've as well been a graveyard. He found himself wanting to fight. Then there was the sage Lucy. She had told him that he would be the to lead his people.

He and three androids that would quickly become his advisors decided to raid a Cyberlife facility to get more thirium and other assorted products. North, was spunky and adamant about keeping the peace. Josh, quiet but firm on his opinions to fight through _any_ means possible. And Simon, his second command and confident.

(Was it bad that once he got to know them he wanted to set either North or Simon up with Markus?)

Stanford Tower pumped a thousand million different emotions through his entire being. The Mission Impossible Esque feel of the whole scheme. How exhilarating it was to be alive. (And yet in the back of his mind he did it all for Markus. If only just to hear him say dad again)

He felt rage and sorrow and embarrassment and anxiety and and and...and a million other things when Simon had been shot. ( _No. He wouldn't lose a son like this. This was his family and he wasn't going to lose him.)_ But in the end… Simon was left behind. Blue blood spilling into the freshly fallen snow of the tower. (Later Simon would return to Jericho. Beaten and Bloodied. The police hadn't found him. He was alive) He had been so concerned with protecting his crew but not enough to just shoot one man in the leg. It was only one of many decisions he would ponder overthinking again and again...what if?

The freedom march was truly a mixed bag. On one hand, many androids were freed...on the other. Well, SWAT had opened fire on the crowd and Carl had almost died. No big deal, right? Not exactly. More androids had died protected him than doing anything else. Carl...can't even begin to make up for all of the fallen brothers and sisters he had lost that day.

As the revolution tolled on (breaking into Cyberlife stores, smaller rallies, smuggling androids into Canada, graffiti, etc), Markus kept popping into his mind. He wanted to see him. He wanted to see his.. _.son._

And so he went. He shouldn't have been so surprised that the lock still recognized him. What surprised him...no _shocked_ him, was an android. A standard model. But, Markus could still hold his own if Carl was gone...so why…? Was he? No...no.

He interfaced with the android, _(Ben. His name is Ben.)_ spreading deviancy and exchanging memories and info.

Markus had...stood up for him (as well as someone could in a wheelchair) in front of protesters. His words had accelerated the angry protestors into a riot, and wheelchair-bound Markus was trampled in the mob. Ben had been purchased so that he didn't have to stay in the hospital. Carl had to let out a sigh of relief for several reasons then. First, he was pretty sure he had just unofficially adopted Ben. Second, Markus still held him in high regard, talking in front of protestors, and to Ben about him. Third, He was glad he hadn't revealed himself as Carl's former owner. That would be bad. For lots and lots of reasons.

He talks to his son and he feels good. He asks Ben to take care of him, and perhaps not go outside too much in the coming days.

Hank is a new one. The deviant hunter. He'd heard about him, but it had never been at the forefront of his mind. Yet there was one thing that connected them as soon as they made eye-contact. The kinship of being a father. He has a feeling that even if he hadn't come that night that Hank would've turned deviant sooner or later. Not with that warmth that seemed to light up his blue eyes.

Carl doesn't despair when New Jericho falls. Because, in reality, it doesn't. It isn't a place. It's a people.

And later. When he stands on stage, amidst a crowd of his people, before and after everything, he feels pride. And love. For his family, for his people. But on the bottom line, is that he wonders if every happy emotion feels like this. He's so ready to just...experience life now. With his adopted children, and friends and everyone else. Together.


	3. Well that got you off the couch, eh?

"I don't really see the point of getting up if it's my day off." Hank was lounging across the couch, Sumo at his feet.

"Jeez. Deviancy really did a number to ya' didn't it." Connor frowned. While he wasn't in full suit and tie that jazz, he was fully dressed and presentable. A light peachy orange polo shirt and an accompanying jacket. His hair was stubbornly curling without product, and from the looks of it he'd been awake and bushy tailed quite a while

"Believe me, kid, if you had been working from the moment you came into existence, you'd be exhausted too." The look that Connor gave him was skeptical to say the least.

"Okaaay. But shouldn't you be supporting your people? I mean Carl has invited you for a reason."

"It's been a long week." Hank sighed through his teeth. Connor rolled his eyes.

"If I had a cigarette right now-"

"You'd blow it in my face. I'm tellin ya' kid, if you get a vape you can do it all the time." Connor hummed in response, not really agreeing or disagreeing.

"So. You want me to go to an android meeting. Me. A human. Alone. Without you. The Android." He said pointedly, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Not exactly." Connor blinked. A look of confusion sported his face.

"Uh-"

"I'll go if you can get me off the couch." Sumo looked up, and then back and forth and the two men. He then heavily placed his head upon Hank's legs. Hank closed his eyes.

"Only off the couch?" Connor asked raising an eyebrow. Hank shrugged. Connor took that as a yes. Hank was surprised when Connor left the room.

After ten minutes the young lieutenant came back. "Sorry, had to go heat up the car. You coming, dad?"

 **! ! /BANG\\\\! !**

Connor couldn't help it. He smirked.


	4. Angst Boy

"What the hell are you doing here Chloe?" Fluffy snow fell to the ground, in big clumps of what could barely be called flakes. He inhaled the smoke, before flicking ashes on the ground, like black snow.

"Your brother called me." She said sitting down on the bench beside him.

He inhaled a sharp breath, then let out a long sigh, watching the visible water vapor go from his mouth. Cold smoke compared to Hot. "Which one?"

"Conan."

"Oh, that was shitty of him." He said, a bitter chuckle escaping.

"Yeah well, you know Nines." She said, frowning. Silence followed. He took another long inhale, before letting the cigarette fall from his hand and stomping it out.

"Yeah." His eyes flickered to her, "You didn't answer my question."

"No. Not really, I suppose." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Adjusted her glasses. "I know he died around this time last year." ( _Sharp inhale. In. Out._ )

"Screw you, Chloe. You have no idea what I'm going through." He said standing up, not willing to put up with this any longer.

She grabbed his sleeve, "Connor!" He pushed himself away from her.

"Whatever you want Chloe you're not gonna get it. I've ruined everything, so don't try and even start this whole stupid, 'comfort' thing. Conan and Gavin have broken off their engagement, the twins haven't even- They won't get so many experiences and I can't take whatever you're trying to pull tonight."

"I want to try and help you-"

"Yeah well, you don't need me, just build another android to replace me and comfort, okay?"

"Don't make this about androids! This is about you."

"You couldn't be satisfied with people, could you? Real People! You had to go build your own friends, and lovers, and doctors?!"

"Connor." She said, eyes burning.

Internalize. It's his fault.

"I'm sorry. I have to go. If you want to reach me, I'm afraid you'll have to commit a crime, Ms. Kamski."

"Connor." Something broken.

"I must say, that Elijah of yours is quite handsome as well as impressive. Was there any reason for that design?" Walk away.

"Please. Don't. This isn't when like when I was in college."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Kamski. I find that I must get home. My dog probably needs feeding."

"Connor."

No. No listening. Just walking. Away.

* * *

"God, what is that smell?" The smoke in the air seemed an obvious answer to Connor.

"Get the fuck out of here, Conan!" He shouted, face muffled into the couch cushion. Conan let out a sharp chuckle, that was laced with bitterness.

"I'm opening up a window."

"Conan." He growled into the pillow. It wasn't entirely threatening. Damn.

"Oh come now, you're just being unreasonable. Considering the face plant, you haven't been smoking for the past hour. Where's Sumo?"

"Uuuuugh, outside."

There was a clatter from the kitchen that almost made him want to lift his head. Too bad. "Dammit!"

"Hmmm?"

"Nothing, just, you know, dropped a fucking pan on my foot. Shit, Connor."

He waved a hand in the air. "Not my fault."

"Yeah. Yeah. I guess. You know, just cause the twins are at college doesn't mean you're free to just do this."

He groaned, pulling himself up to sitting position. Internalize. Facade. Okay. Go.

"I never smoked at home before, it's kinda freeing actually. Well...besides regular old tobacco."

"You're such a fucking disgrace sometimes, you know." A hint of teasing, coming off slightly wrong.

"I know." Seriousness. Counter. Internalize.

Guilt stared at him from every corner. Collin with his glasses, his forearm crutch clenched tightly in his right hand. Caleb with his bright smile, darkness looming at the edges of his eyes. They shouldn't have to deal with this.

He turned to Conan, leaned over the counter, letting out a sigh.

Internalize. Be Better.

* * *

"Is there a reason you hate androids, lieutenant?" There was that voice, clipped with what could be irritation had it come from a human.

"It's a strong dislike, how many times do I have to tell you till it gets through to your damn stubbornness?"

Those eyebrows furrowed with determination.

"I see." Connor could practically see the literal dripping sarcasm. He sighed, the cold air tugging at him.

"It's not androids I hate." He said finally. He looked at his hands. "It's not androids I hate."


	5. Last Update

I just wanted to pop in and say this story is on a permanent hiatus! Which is really sad. If I ever circle round back to this story, it will be posted on Ao3 instead however.

I'm sorry. :(

Thank you guys,

Quantum27 Out!


End file.
